Bear Mountain (Ayu-Dag)
Bear Mountain is located in Crimea, on the border of Big Alushta and Big Yalta, between the villages of Gurzuf and Partenit. Its height is 570.8 meters above sea level. The mountain massif has an elongated shape and protrudes into the sea for 2-2.5 km. On Ayu-Dag lived descendants of Alans, Scythians, Taurians and Byzantines. The upland was densely populated until the XV century, but then people left these places. The most probable reason scientists call the earthquake, which blocked access to drinking water. On Bear Mountain archaeologists have found the remains of ancient settlements, ruins of temples, including statues of Zeus and other Greek gods, fortress walls, burial ground of Christians. Ayu-Dag is rich in rare minerals – pyrite, tourmaline, amethyst, vesuvian and gabbro-diabase – the same one that lined the stands on Red Square.
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